So...I did a thing...
Sometimes the only way to overcome your fear is to do the thing that's scaring you. For me, it is writing. Yes, me; the one who has a blog and who is writing a book and who can paint a picture with words, almost effortlessly.
I have always loved to write. But BECAUSE I have loved it so much, I have not been able to do much of it. Writing is a cathartic experience for me. I don't write stories about other people or imaginary places. I write about my life and about my innermost feelings. I cry as I write (crying right now), I laugh, I reflect, I physiologically feel what I am writing and finally when I have finished, I am emptied of the emotions I had been holding. Peace then fills the empty parts. So much peace that I am close to floating.
When I was in rehab I learned many tools for living a normal life after addiction. My most important tool for recovery was writing. I wrote break up letters to alcohol and drugs, I wrote mean and nasty letters to people who have hurt me so that I could process the trauma and find forgiveness for them. I wrote letters apologizing to the ones that I hurt during my chaotic addiction and found forgiveness for myself. Another very important component of my recovery was then reading these letters aloud and releasing those feelings into the universe, imagining they were like wisps of smoke from an extinguished candle wick.
The reason that I continue to write and unabashedly share it with anyone who will read it, is partly for myself but also for anyone else who needs to hear it. I decided that I would never be quiet about my obstacles. I would never hide my mistakes. I promised myself in those first days of sobriety that if my story could help just one person I had an obligation to tell it. I had to share the ugliest, darkest and most painful parts of it along with my successes. That is what we do. We share so that others can keep hope alive while they are waiting for their miracle.
My point in this whole spiel is to share something that I think is pretty fucking cool. I made a determination a few weeks ago that I was going to concentrate a lot of my energy on creating a writing portfolio to EVENTUALLY be a full time freelance writer. It was scary when I decided it and it is still scary as I'm typing it. So I took my first stab at being published and sent my recovery story to one of the funniest, realest bloggers I have ever been a fan of, Tiffany Jenkins of\ Juggling the Jenkins. IF you haven't heard of her, you need to fix that. Go here... www.jugglingthejenkins.com
Well, she loved it. So did Love What Matters (another popular blog about FEELGOOD stuff) thanks to someone who sent an anonymous submission of my recovery story. So did the owner of a magazine in Santa Clarita who read my story because someone shared it on their Facebook page. All told, my story was shared almost 10,000 times thanks to the (sometimes) miracle of social media. Yeah, so remember when I said I was floating after I finished a writing piece? Multiply that by 20 million.
Because I walked through my fear of submitting my writing for publishing, I might have saved lives...
But even if it just saved one person, that would be enough.
And yes, I'm still crying.
Love, Coco
PS if you'd like to read my story, you can find it here...
Coco's Story - Recovering Beautifully
And if you'd like to laugh a whole shit ton and also find an inspiring word or two go here...
https://jugglingthejenkins.com/
When I was in rehab I learned many tools for living a normal life after addiction. My most important tool for recovery was writing. I wrote break up letters to alcohol and drugs, I wrote mean and nasty letters to people who have hurt me so that I could process the trauma and find forgiveness for them. I wrote letters apologizing to the ones that I hurt during my chaotic addiction and found forgiveness for myself. Another very important component of my recovery was then reading these letters aloud and releasing those feelings into the universe, imagining they were like wisps of smoke from an extinguished candle wick.
The reason that I continue to write and unabashedly share it with anyone who will read it, is partly for myself but also for anyone else who needs to hear it. I decided that I would never be quiet about my obstacles. I would never hide my mistakes. I promised myself in those first days of sobriety that if my story could help just one person I had an obligation to tell it. I had to share the ugliest, darkest and most painful parts of it along with my successes. That is what we do. We share so that others can keep hope alive while they are waiting for their miracle.
My point in this whole spiel is to share something that I think is pretty fucking cool. I made a determination a few weeks ago that I was going to concentrate a lot of my energy on creating a writing portfolio to EVENTUALLY be a full time freelance writer. It was scary when I decided it and it is still scary as I'm typing it. So I took my first stab at being published and sent my recovery story to one of the funniest, realest bloggers I have ever been a fan of, Tiffany Jenkins of\ Juggling the Jenkins. IF you haven't heard of her, you need to fix that. Go here... www.jugglingthejenkins.com
Well, she loved it. So did Love What Matters (another popular blog about FEELGOOD stuff) thanks to someone who sent an anonymous submission of my recovery story. So did the owner of a magazine in Santa Clarita who read my story because someone shared it on their Facebook page. All told, my story was shared almost 10,000 times thanks to the (sometimes) miracle of social media. Yeah, so remember when I said I was floating after I finished a writing piece? Multiply that by 20 million.
Because I walked through my fear of submitting my writing for publishing, I might have saved lives...
But even if it just saved one person, that would be enough.
And yes, I'm still crying.
Love, Coco
PS if you'd like to read my story, you can find it here...
Coco's Story - Recovering Beautifully
And if you'd like to laugh a whole shit ton and also find an inspiring word or two go here...
https://jugglingthejenkins.com/
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